In January 2006, the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia sent a letter of intent to petition for State Tribal Recognition to the Virginia Council on Indians (VCI). A full petition was submitted to the VCI on October 17, 2006. The VCI named a Recognition Committee in November 2006. The Recognition Committee convened its first meeting in January 2007.
The process for State Tribal Recognition, by written criteria, was not instituted until 1989. The current written Criteria for Recognition were not ratified by the VCI until May 2006 and is now similar to the Federal Recognition Process used by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The eight currently recognized Tribes in Virginia were granted state recognition prior to 1989 by resolutions in the State Legislature. They did not go through a written criteria process.
Six of the eight State Recognized Tribes, seated on the VCI, are currently seeking Federal Recognition though Congressional resolution. This would bypass the written Federal Criteria administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
No tribes have been granted State Tribal Recognition since the establishment of the written criteria process.
Please click on the section Petition Cover Letter. This October 2006 letter explains the Tribe’s position on the State Recognition Process.
Visit the Virginia Council on Indians website to read the minutes and attachments to the minutes from the Recognition Committee meetings and the Council meetings.
Link to Criteria for State Tribal Recognition document - http://indians.vipnet.org/stateRecognition.cfm
Link to minutes and attachments for the VCI Recognition Committee meetings and VCI meetings- http://indians.vipnet.org/councilMeetings.cfm
Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia, Inc. State Recognition in Review 2008:
The State Tribal Recognition process for the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia, Incorporated continues into a third year. The process is administered by the Virginia Council on Indians (VCI) which is an advisory body for the Commonwealth. The VCI has an appointed Recognition Committee to review the documentation that has been submitted.
There are six criteria of which Criterion Two and Criterion Four were completed and validated as fulfilled by the Recognition Committee in 2007. Four VCI Recognition Committee meetings took place in the spring of 2008 at which time the remaining four Criteria were reviewed with mixed decisions by the Committee. The complete minutes for the VCI meetings and for the Recognition Committee meetings, with attachments, are available on line at the Virginia Council on Indians website. http://indians.vipnet.org/councilMeetings.cfm
The Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia is the only Tribe in Virginia which has ever submitted a fully documented petition to comply with a written criteria process through public review and scrutiny. Other Tribal entities have submitted letters of intent to petition but have not submitted any of the required genealogy, Tribal structure documents, etc.
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